Family cremates Tibetan monk died of self-immolation

The body of a young monk who died after setting himself on fire in a Tibetan county in southwest China's Sichuan Province was cremated on Friday in accordance with Tibetan rituals.

On Wednesday afternoon, Rigzin Phuntsog, a 16-year-old monk at Kirti Monastery, set himself on fire in Aba County in Aba Tibetan-Qiang Autonomous Prefecture.

Local officials said that shortly after Rigzin Phuntsog ignited himself, he was rushed to a nearby hospital. However, a group of monks from Kirti Monastery forcibly took him out and hid him inside the monastery.

They said that the monks finally allowed Rigzin Phuntsog's mother to take him to hospital again, after long hours of negotiations.

The monk died on early Thursday.

"The hospital tried its best. Five or six doctors gave him emergency treatments. But it was too late since the treatment was delayed for 11 hours," said the monk's father, Tsenam Tashi, a 55-year-old herdsman in Aba County.

"He bore only burn injuries, no other wounds," said the father, who was involved in the negotiations and witnessed the rescue.